Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Local Government Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
ACLU-backed bill to set standards for cemetery maintenance and exhumations draws mixed response; amendment narrows enforcement
Summary
CARSON CITY — Assembly Bill 350 would set standards for cemetery maintenance, require documentation and limits for exhumations and clarify who may authorize disinterments; the ACLU presented the bill and a stakeholder-crafted conceptual amendment to the Health and Human Services committee Friday.
CARSON CITY — Assembly Bill 350, carried to the Health and Human Services committee by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, would clarify standards for cemetery maintenance and set documentary requirements and limited exemptions for exhumations. The committee heard sponsor and stakeholder testimony Friday and considered a conceptual amendment developed with counties and cemetery interests.
Atar Hasibullah, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, described the bill and a conceptual amendment uploaded to NELIS that narrows the exhumation exceptions and spells out maintenance expectations. The amendment exempts exhumations ordered by a coroner acting in an official capacity, by a public-health officer acting in an official capacity, or when a family member presents documentary proof of the decedent’s testamentary intent to be moved. The amendment also requires documentation of exhumation actions and restoration of landscaping to prior condition.
The conceptual amendment would replace the existing, vague statutory term “orderly conditions” with specific maintenance tasks: monthly mowing (with a temperature-based dormancy exception), routine removal of weeds and debris, trash removal, upkeep of paths and entryways, and proper placement of headstones and grave markers. Sponsor testimony said the amendment was developed with Washoe, Clark and Lyon counties, county health districts, NACO, Davis Cemetery and local district attorney offices.
Palm Mortuaries and Cemeteries’ president Celena Dilullo testified in opposition to the maintenance standards portion, saying the provisions were subjective, could fail to account for natural disasters or drought and appeared to apply specifically to private cemeteries. Dilullo urged the committee to rely on the Nevada State Board of Funeral and Cemetery Services, the existing regulatory board, to implement enforceable maintenance rules. Clark County counsel Joanna Jacob testified neutral and said the county worked with the ACLU to reach the amendment’s present language and was neutral with the amendment because it removed a provision that would have placed duties with county boards of commissioners.
Sponsor Hasibullah told the committee the amendment sought a practical, enforceable baseline without imposing fines per use; he said district attorneys and state oversight play enforcement roles where appropriate. The amendment requires documentary proof in exhumation cases and post-exhumation site restoration; it also establishes periodic maintenance expectations while allowing reasonable exceptions.
Why it matters: The bill responds to constituent complaints about cemetery upkeep and to disputes over exhumations, clarifying who may authorize disinterments and how sites must be restored and maintained. Counties and cemetery operators cooperated on draft language; some operators still expressed concerns about subjectivity and overlap with the regulatory board.
Next steps: The sponsor said stakeholders had largely reached common ground on the amendment and the bill would proceed with the amendment under consideration; no committee vote was recorded in the hearing portion documented in the transcript.
Provenance: Sponsor presentation and stakeholder testimony on AB350 are on the committee transcript; a conceptual amendment was uploaded to NELIS as described in testimony.
